THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume IV, Issue 101, 4 November 1852, Page 3

THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN.

Luke xviii. 13. " God be merciful to me a sinner." There is a time approaching when Mercy will appear to all mankind the most valuable thing in the world. Figure to yourselves the awful hour, when you shall be about to quit this mortal slate, and launched into an unknown world; realize the still more awful moment, when tile trumpet shall sound, iilul the tlead shall ho: raised; when the great while throne shall Ik! erected, hud tile assembled world shall appear before the universal Judge; when thd grand separation shall lie made between the righlcdiis and the wicked; the one being placed at the right hand, and the other in the left band of Christ—then, my friends, then will the fill! value of mi try be Known. 0 what a word will Hi.r.i/ be then ; a world for mercy then ! " vessels of mercy," obtalners elf mercy—how will they shout anrl sing, "0 give thanks to the Lord, for he is good ; for his merry eiubireth for ever." while others, in all the bitterness Of fruitless woe, shall cry, O tltal we had but Unow the nerd of mercy, the nay of mercy, and the mine of mercy, while it might have been had ! But now the door is shin; the mercies of Cud are clean gone for Over, and lie will be favourable no more. Willi this amazing scene in prospect, let us address ourselves to the text, and to the parable of the Pharisee and Publican, of which it is a part. The iiitrmluclion to it, and the chmtiisltm of it, will be the best key to its true meaning. Verse 9, '•Our Saviour spake 1 this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were! righteous, and despised others." Here are two bad things in their character. I. Tlieij trusleil in thcinselren— which ilo man can (Id if he knows the holy law of fieri ; and, 2. They tleapiseil allurs, which we eaunol i\a if Wo know our own hearts. The conclusion shews bow fiod dislikes shell people, while he accepts a poor dejected silnler: for ''every one that exaltclh himself shall be abased; and he that hiimhlcth himself shall be exalted,"ver. 11. "Two men went up into '.be temple to pray; til" one a Pharisee and the oilier a publican," ver. tO. The Pharisees were a sect of people in those days in high repute for religion ; they separated themselves from others, as if more holy; they distinguished themselves from others, as if more holy; they distinguished themselves by peculiar real for ceremonies; but many of them were

j rank hypocrites, neglccling the religion of i the heart, and indulging themselves in cruelly i and oppression. The Puhlicaii also appearI ed at the same place, at the same lime, and ! on the same errand; hut how different their ' characters! Had we seen them hoth together, , wc should perhaps have thought far heller of • the Pharisee than of the Publican ;*' for man lookclli only at outward appearance, hut ' Hod lookclli al the heart." Very different motives brought them ihere. The Pharisee tame because il was a public, place, and he wished to be seen and admired; the Publican came because it was "a house of prayer," and he wauled to pour forth his soul before God. Thus, my friends, in all our places of worship, then.' is a mixture of characiers ; but let us remember, .iod is llie searcher of the heart, and ho knows what brings us to bis house. Vcr. 11. "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself:"—ho slood //// himself', with great formality, in a place where, the people must notice" him; he prayed thus with himself and to himself, not to (iod ; there are many people pray to themselves; they speak not to God ; their words never reach him: they niter sounds, but not desires; this praying will do no good. It is remarkable that in all the Pharisee's prayer Ihere is not one petition : 'he came to pray ; but surely ho forgot his errand, for he asks nothing. Praise to God is certainly a proper and a noble part of prayer; but he protends to praise, lie only boasts. Rut let us hear his fine prayer; "God, I thank ihee, that I am not as other men arc." What is this but ignorance, pride, and censoriousness / He was as oilier men are, for all men are sinners ; in ibis respect all are on a level; there is no difference, as lbs scriptures speaks, Rom. iii. 22, 25, " For all have sinned, and conic short of the glory of God." It is true that some men are restrained from s ins that others commit; hut the seeds of every sin are by nature in the heart of every man; and if we have not actually committed them, we owe it to the restraining power or the changing grace of God. The Pharisee seems to admit of this by saying, " God, I thank thee,"' but we have reason lo doubt his sincerity in so saying; and to think they were words of course and form; for so proud a heart as his, could not he duly sensible of his obligations to divine grace: and there are many who, like him, use words of praise, but feel no gratiludc to God. His meaning was probably this, "O (iod, thou Author of my being, I thank thee for the noble powers with which thou has endowed me, by my own -wise and careful improvement of which I liavc kept myself from being so wicked as other people." You will observe that there were two principal parts of the law; llieonc respected morals, the other ceremonials. Now the Pharisee takes care to brag of his regard to both; and first to the moral law, /am not as other men are —well, what are oilier men'/ Why, according to his accounts, it should seem that most other men are extortioners, unjmt, adulterers. Al all limes there arc too many such people as these; but his way of mentioning them was merely for the purpose of exalting himself and his own sect, some of whom were equally criminal, though under the mask of religion. It may be the Pharisee was not an '' extortioner" —did not cruelly oppose his neighbour; but we have Christ's authority for it, that the Pharisees were generally "covelous," and some of them "devoured widows' houses." He says he was not " unjust"—not a knave or a cheat; but could he say ho had never coveted his neighbour's goods, for this is heart-robbery in the sight of God. He says he was not an "adulterer;" it may be so; ' but our Lord says, that " he who lookclli on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart," Mall. v. 28. Rut this was" the folly of such men; they washed the outside of the cup and the philter, but within they were "full of extortion and excess ; righteous without, but full of hypocrisy and iniquity within;" so Christ declares, Matt, xxiii. 23, Nc. Not content with boasting of himself, he must abuse the poor publican—" I am not as this publican." What business had he with the publican? He ought to have rejoiced to sec him in the temple; ho might have hoped it was a symptom of his reformation. He should have gone and shaken hands with him, and given him some good advice. But his proud heart spurns at the brokenhearted sinner; just as modern Pharisees, who look upon mourning souls as poor canting, whining hypocrites, far beneath their notice. There was a great deal of cruelly in this; he could not say his own prayers without pulling in a caveat, as it were, against the petition of his poor neighbour.

Hut the Pharisee has yet more to boast of. He had not only "done nobody any harm," as the common phrase is, but he had been mighty religions; he kept hnl all the year. 1 fast said he, twice a mck. Occasional fasting, in order to humble ourselves before (Jod for our sins, is very commendable, whether by private persons or public bodies ; but the Pharisee's fasting was not For thai purpose, but for ostentation, and with a view to merit at (lie. hand of (Jod, as appears by bis boasting of il. Hcsidcs this, lit: lells (Jod, he ijave tithes of alt he jitwuttwrrf; not only of what the law of .Moses required, bill of tht! herbs in his garden; be devoted a tenth part of all he bail to religious uses, whether litheable or not by the law. Thus you have the Pharisee's prayer; a prayer which Ciotl rejected ; for though he justilied himself, (Jod tlitl not justify him. And now, my friends, let us examine ourselves. Is there nothing of the Pharisee's spirit in us? J)o we not hear people speaking the same language sometimes.' Is mil this all the hope of some persons, thai they never did any person barm ; thai they pa\ every one his due; and perhaps that iliey go to church constantly ; behave decently : take the. sacrament; give alms-, and soon/ How ollen tlo we hear litis language on a dying bed? Poor ignorant souls rush into the presence of (Jod, with no other foundation for (heir hope than I lie Pharisee luitl; while we hear not a word of true humility, poverty o| spirit, sense of sin, or hope in Jesus, as the sinner's only friend and hope. 0 beware of resembling (he Pharisee. Pleas like this may please men, but they will not succeed with God : rather let us resemble tin; poor lirokcii-liearlcd Publican, whose character and prayer we next consider. Xium', 15,. "And the Publican, .standing afar oil', would not lilt up so much as his eyes unto heaven, bill smote upon his breast, saying, (Jod he merciful to ine a sinner!" Ily a Publican you are not lo understand the keeper of a public-house, but a tax-gatherer The Jews were, at tht! time, subject to the Roman emperor, and paid him taxes, which were sometimes finned by the rich publicans, who in the execution of their ollice were 100 often dishonest nntl oppressive ; on account of which, and on account of the taxes themselves, which were vexations to the Jews, (he name of a publican was abominable, and was elassetl with (host: of great sinners.

Whether this publican was an extortioner or not, we cannot say. Doubtless lie was n sinner; mid by some means or other lie became :i penitent sinner, and a praying sinner. I'ephaps lliis was the lirsl lime (hill ever he prayed in his life; Cor sinning generally keeps men from praying. It is plain (Init (he Spirit of (iod had "humbled his heart ; lie was one of those blessed men who are " poor in spirit," and he. was one or (hose blessed mourners who "shall be comforted." Oh, my friends, let us rejoice wilh those who are, thus brought for repentance, and pray for grace lo mourn likewise for our sins. To be continued.